A friend once told me that if he won the lottery he would throw all his socks away and buy a completely new set. I gently suggested that he needn't wait until he had won the lottery to do that.
Gordon Brown's socks. Photograph: Graeme Robertson.
It seems Gordon Brown has had the same idea. According to the Independent, the prime minister recently spent £280 on 20 pairs of socks, "the thick, ribbed, long, comfy type".
The £14-a-pair Sea Island brand were from Charles Tyrwhitt, the upscale London clothing store which boasts on its website that it doesn't use the Royal Mail - so don't worry about that strike.
Lucky for Gordon. As the Independent reports, the PM "shopped online and got the consignment delivered to his Scottish home in Kirkcaldy, Fife. He has done so every six months or so for the past two years, because he 'loses his socks very quickly', apparently."
Socks have an intriguing history in British politics. In April, my colleague Helene Mulholland revealed the lucky mascots which may have helped Welsh first minister Rhodri Morgan in this year's Cardiff elections: little Welsh dragons sewn into his grey socks.
Sir Christopher Meyer, meanwhile, the former British ambassador to Washington, used his trademark red socks to make sure he never went unnoticed - a tactic that seemed to have backfired when John Prescott condemned him as a "red-socked fop". This week Sir Christopher told MediaGuardian that the insult had added 10,000 sales on to his memoirs.
Mr Brown's new socks were, of course, black - perhaps matching his mood after a week in which his hard-won image as an astute, heavyweight father of the nation has collapsed around his ears.
After throwing away his socks, my friend came up with a slightly more elaborate lottery ambition: he said he would hire a flunky to follow him around with a constant supply of hot towels, like you get in Indian restaurants.
Just a thought for next week's PMQs, Gordon.
